by Kayla Shore

“Two Schools, One Book,” the summer reading initiative featuring Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, will culminate with a day-long, school-wide program Friday, Oct. 14.

The focus of the program will be 10 discussion panels for students to attend, put together by English department head Melissa Dilworth and parent coordinators Anne Swager and Claudia Wu.

“It’s important to come together as a community, to get staff, faculty and students to talk about a book that we can relate to our own lives and the world around us,” said Dilworth.

Tuesday in homeroom, students chose which two panels they want to attend. The 10 panels offered will be “Emergency Preparedness,” “Community Service,” “Religion,” “Justice,” “Arts,” “Sports,” “Telling Someone Else’s Story,” “The Ecology of Disaster,” “Lessons from Katrina” and “Story Sharing.”

Community members, local religious leaders and activists will act as panelists, and they will discuss the themes of the sessions not only in terms of Zeitoun, but also with a focus on this school, this town and this country, according to Dilworth.

One participating community member is Peter Roby, athletic director at Northeastern and father of senior Jon Paul Roby. He will be speaking on how sports in society promote civic responsibility, according to Dilworth.

Students, who submitted their three top choices for panels, will find out which two panels they are attending the morning of the event, according to Dilworth.